The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States founded in 1900 by local union delegates representing about 2,000 members in cities in the northeastern United States. It was one of the first U.S. Unions to have a membership consisting of mostly females, and it played a key role in the labor history of the 1920s and 1930s. The union is generally referred to as the "ILGWU" or the "ILG". The ILGWU grew in geographical scope, membership size, and political influence to become one of the most powerful forces in American organized labor by mid-century. Representing workers in the women's garment industry, the ILGWU worked to improve working and living conditions of its members through collective bargaining agreements, training programs, health care facilities, cooperative housing, educational opportunities, and other efforts. The ILGWU merged with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union in 1995 to form the Union of Needle trades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). UNITE merged with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) in 2004 to create a new union known as UNITE HERE. The two unions that formed UNITE in 1995 represented only 250,000 workers between them, down from the ILGWU's peak membership of 450,000 in 1969.
Justice was the official organ of the ILGWU from 1919 to 1995. Editions of Justice were published in English, Italian, Spanish, and Yiddish. When compared side by side, the content of some of these different editions of Justice shows significant differences.
A positive and negative duplicate is available upon request.
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a reference archivist for access to these materials.
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet and Procedures for Document Use.
ILGWU Publication "Gerechtigkeit" (Justice) on Microfilm #5780/185 mf. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.
Related Collections:
Yiddish. January 17, 1919 - April 30, 1920. Vol. 1 - Vol. 2, #18. Positive.
Yiddish. May 7, 1920 - December 30, 1921. Vol. 2 - Vol. 3, #18. Positive.
Yiddish. January 6, 1922 - August 31, 1923. Vol. 4 - Vol. 5, #35. Positive.
Yiddish. September 7, 1923 - May 15, 1925. Vol 5, #26 - Vol. 7, #20. Positive.
Yiddish. May 22, 1925 - May 27, 1927. Vol. 7, #21 - Vol. 9, #21. Positive.
Yiddish. June 3, 1927 - July 25, 1930. Vol. 9, #22 - Vol. 12, #18. Positive.
Yiddish. August 8, 1930 - December 1937. Vol. 12, #19 - Vol. 19, #18. Positive.
Yiddish. January 1938 - April 1942. Vol. 20 - Vol. 24, #4. Positive.
Yiddish. May 1942 - July 1946. Vol. 24, #5 - Vol. 28, #7. Positive.
Yiddish. August 1946 - December 1951. Positive.
Yiddish. January 1952 - January 1958. Positive.